


Build-A-Family

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Adoption, Army, Children, F/M, Family, Foster Parents, Gen, M/M, Polyamory, foster children, social work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-10-21 08:12:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10681272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: In this case the story is a little bit different, their family did not come together in the normal way. But Alex, John and Eliza wouldn't have it any other way.





	1. Frances

John took another fortifying breath, but it didn't do much for his nerves when a knock sounded on the front door of his apartment. Tonight was the night his new partners, with whom he was already dangerously in love, were going to meet his daughter and honestly John was terrified.

"Alright Princess," John lifted up Frances, "you ready to do this?"

Frances nodded. She was sucking her thumb again, John noticed, and he gently removed the digit from her mouth. He and Martha had thought long and hard about introducing Frances to Alex and Eliza. Although John had been her best friend for so long and Martha just wanted him to be happy, Frances' happiness has to come first. And that was why it was important for her to get along with Alex and Eliza. If she didn't, John had told both himself and Martha multiple times, then he would have to put his own feelings on hold and do what was right for their daughter.

Adjusting his grip on Frances he inhaled deeply and went to the door, "Here it goes," John muttered and pulled the door open where he found himself face to face with Alex and Eliza.

As always, when he saw them John couldn't resist the grin that spread across his face and the way his heart skipped a beat. 

"Hey," John greeted, getting lost for a moment in their matching dark eyes, "Um, this is Frances. Can you say hi Frances?"

Frances was very outgoing for a three year old, a trait that she'd picked up from both her parents, so she smiled brightly and waved.

"Hello Frances!" Eliza smiled and gently waved back at her, John loved Eliza's smile and it seemed Frances did as well.

"My name's Eliza," she continued, "and it's very nice to meet you."

"'Liza's a pretty name," Frances said with a blush.

"Thank you very much," said Eliza with a grin, "Frances is a very pretty name too."

"Mamí's grandma was Frances too," the girl said, "That's why it's my name."

John began to smile as he watched Eliza interact with Frances, but he couldn't help but notice that Alex looked a little nervous.

John put Frances down and she went over to Eliza immediately, taking the young woman's hand to lead her back to the bedroom where her dolls were kept. John, meanwhile, stepped next to Alex and placed a hand on his shoulder. Alex startled a little before looking at him. 

"You alright?" asked John. 

"I think so," Alex replied, "It's one thing to know that you have a daughter but something else entirely to actually see her."

John bit at his lip, "Yeah I know, so what do you think?"

For once Alex seemed genuinely speechless.

"Alex please say something," John pressed.

"She looks so much like you," Alex said finally, "I mean, her eyes. They're your eyes."

John wrapped his arms around Alex, "Well that is kinda how genetics work," he teased.

Alex shot him a dirty look, "Seriously? You think I don't know that?"

"Well, when you state the obvious like that..." John started. 

"Fuck you," Alex grumbled without venom, letting his forehead fall onto John's shoulder. 

They stood there for several long moments, listening to the giggles and talking floating out of the back room. 

"She's adorable," Alex said finally, "she's adorable and I want so much for her to like me because it's important to you and you're important to me."

John grinned and leaned in and kissed Alex on the cheek, "I know she'll love you."

"Alex?"

Eliza stuck her head into the living room. 

"Alex," she repeated, "Come back here. Frances wants to show you something."

With one last glance at John, Alex began to follow her back. 

"I'll make dinner," John said. 

As much as he wanted to go with them, he had to let Frances interact with them on her own for a little bit.


	2. AJ

When Eliza stepped into the apartment, the familiar atmosphere and sounds made her smile. As she went into the kitchen, that smile only grew. John was skillfully icing a tray of sugar cookies while Philip followed with the rainbow sprinkles and four-year-old enthusiasm, his curly hair tied back in the same way as his father's. From the bathroom she could hear the splashing sounds that indicated two-year-old Angie was getting her bath. Initially she thought that Alex was the one bathing her, but a quick glance into their bedroom showed that Alex was sitting at his desk hard at work. She briefly approached him to drop a kiss on his forehead before going to peek into the bathroom. Her heart nearly melted at the sight of nine-year-old Frances carefully washing Angie's hair.

Angie playfully splashed in the water as Frances giggled.

Eliza sighed, to say their life was idyllic was an understatement; until today she didn't think it possible for them to be happier. This was all before she'd gone to work today and met a small baby with no name who had just arrived.

The work she did at the orphanage always made her feel great, especially when she could help kids find homes and watch as new families were formed, but it had broken her heart to see a child so small and so young come through their doors.

When she had taken the baby into her arms her heart fluttered, it was not unlike the feeling she felt after holding Angie and Philip for the first time. She was certain that this little boy needed her and love of her family.

Although she wasn't really worried about her partners agreeing that the child needed help, she hoped that they would be willing to take the boy into their home.

Stepping out of the bathroom she joined John and Philip in the kitchen.

"Hello Liza," John greeted as he twisted the piping bag.

"Oh these look good," Eliza commented looking at the sugar cookies on the cooling rack.

"I think they need more sprinkles," Philip replied as he dragged over the stool so he could reach the counter. 

"Of course they do," Eliza laughed ruffling Philip's hair.

"How was work?" John asked.

"Good..." Eliza lingered on her words, "in fact there is something that the three of us should talk about tonight."

"Oh?" John raised his brow.

"I promise that it's less ominous than it sounds," Eliza told him, going over to wrap her arm around his waist.

John chuckled and swooped down to give her a brief kiss before continuing to ice the last cookies. 

\----------

It wasn't until later that not that Eliza got to say what she wanted to John and Alex.

"Alright Betsey enough teasing," Alex sat on the bed beside her, "tell us what's up."

 

"Wait, hold on," John called from the bathroom, his voice muffled with toothpaste. 

A couple minutes later he emerged, bringing the smell of mint with him, and settled at the foot of the bed.

Eliza adjusted the way she was sitting on the bed, "Alright," she sighed, "today at the orphanage we just got a baby, he's three months old and he's so sweet," she began to explain all the while gauging the looks on her partners faces.

Alex was captivated almost immediately. She knew that he felt an immediate connection with every child in the orphanage due to his own experience in the system. With John, it was a little bit harder to tell. He'd done some time in the army because of his father and had learned to hide his emotions well.

"And I got to hold him today," Eliza began to blush, "the way he looked at me.... This poor boy doesn't even have a name," she pursed her lips.

"Yes," John said. 

Eliza blinked. "What?"

"You're going to talk to us about adopting the baby," replied John, "My vote is yes."

"Really?" Eliza looked at John with her eyes wide, "without even meeting him?"

"As if you could ever make a bad judgement on children," John wrapped his arm around her, Eliza happily leaned into his touch.

"You two are adorable," Alex said, "Even if I wasn't completely on board with this idea, I would never be able to resist your combined charms."

 

Eliza reached out and grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him over to join her and John, "I can't wait for you to meet him, I know you'll love him."

 

With Eliza being such an integral part of the orphanage and her having such an obvious strong support network, it didn't take a lot of time for her to be granted custody if the baby. Officially, they were required to foster him for a certain amount of time before they could adopt him. Unofficially, all three already considered him their son. 

"This is home little one," Eliza smiled as they entered their home, "and you still need need a name," she gently stroked his cheek and the baby giggled.

 

"He needs a name," John said, "I've just been calling him The Little One in my head and that just won't do."

"What about Alex?" Eliza suggested.

From where he'd been working Alex turned to look at his partners, "What was that?"

"What say you about naming our newest addition after you?" Eliza asked.

"Alexander Junior," John said with a grin, "I like the sound of that. We could call him AJ for short."

"We're naming him after me?" Alex asked, his voice nearly a whisper and his eyes suspiciously shiny. 

"I think so," Eliza walked over to Alex, "he even has your eyes," she joked.

Alex chuckled and held out his hand and baby AJ reached for him, wrapping his entire fist around Alex's pointer finger. 

"Our son," Alex smiled, "welcome home."


	3. Fanny

It didn't matter that they had just adopted AJ, when John's friend Ed had asked if the three of them could look after his daughter Francesca of course they'd said yes. 

Ed had come home early from his tour after his wife Helen died to meet the daughter he'd only ever seen in pictures, and god did he try to take care of that little girl. But it had just been too much, he could not do it on his own and was struggling with mourning the loss of his wife. 

He had confessed this to John one night, who told Alexander and Eliza and three of them knew what they needed to do. They would help Ed out, give him a chance to get his life back on track.

 

John had asked Ed once why Fanny didn't stay with a blood relative. Ed himself didn't have any family left and Helen's side had disowned her for marrying someone who wasn't Romani. 

John literally owed Ed his life. If it weren't for Ed, John would have never made it back to base after the injury that had ended up costing him his military career. Better his military career than his life, Eliza would always say when he woke in the middle of the night from nightmares and in pain. So really, it was the least John could do to keep Ed's daughter safe for him. 

Fanny was only a year younger than Angie and she fit in well with the other children. The two girls spent most of their time together both with and without Philip present. 

When John found out that the military was sending Ed on another tour despite the fact that there was a young daughter waiting for her daddy to come home, John had nearly exploded with rage. It had taken him a fair bit of alone time and an abundance of meditative breathing before he had felt safe enough to be around his family again. If there was one thing he hated more than the military service his father had forced him into it was the way it sometimes made him feel like he couldn't be around the people he loved for fear of hurting them.

It had been a tearful goodbye as Ed hugged his daughter close, it was clear that despite the fact she was not his care he still loved her very much. He promised to write her letters and that he would be back before she knew it.

As Ed turned to walk away Fanny burst into tears and Eliza had to hold the little girl back to keep her from running after her father.

Yet still despite all that, Fanny was overall a very happy child. She played and laughed and cuddled. Every so often, John would catch a far away look in her eye, but it was only ever a flash and she was back to her usual bubbly self. 

Ed's letters came less and less often as weeks became months and before any of them realized it two years had passed. Little AJ was talking now, Fanny and Angie were still inseparable despite the former being in preschool still and the latter having moved up to kindergarten. Philip was reading two years above his second grade level and Frances was starting to excited about the prospect of high school in another couple years.

It was an evening when everyone was at home for once, John busy making dinner, Eliza helping Angie and Philip with their homework, Alex busy with casework. Frances was chatting happily with one of her friends on the phone while Fanny was telling AJ a story using one of her dolls. 

The knock at the door barely disturbed them from their activities at hand, and then the knock came again a little sharper this time.

"I'll get it," Eliza decided rising to her feet and pushing back her chair at the table.

When Eliza called for him, John turned down the stove so the food wouldn't burn and quickly washed his hands. He gently ruffled AJ's hair as he walked past him to the door. Eliza looked concerned and she gestured to him to come closer. John's heart froze when he saw the two men in full dress uniform at the door. He was no longer on active duty so either he was being honored with something or...the sight of the folded American flag in one of the soldier's hands confirmed his fear. 

"Colonel Laurens?" the soldier questioned. When John nodded, the other man saluted him.

"Yes?" John stiffened, his voice shaky.

"I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Colonel Ed Antill has been reported dead..."

John completely blanked out, not even registering as the soldier went on to say the exact location and date of Ed's death. He felt like her could barely breath. Ed had been one of his best friends and certainly his closest friend in the army.

His thoughts immediately went to little Fanny who was happily playing with AJ, how would he tell her?

John muttered a "thank you" took the flag which he clutched to his chest and shut the door.

"Fuck," he whispered, leaning against the now closed door. He forced himself to fall into his meditative breathing. 

"John?" Eliza asked, coming back over, "What's wrong, love?"

John cleared his throat and straightened his spine, forcing himself to keep calm.

"Ed's dead," John muttered.

Eliza gasped and wrapped her arms around John.

He managed to keep his military stance, but Eliza could tell by his shifting that her embrace was helping him relax. 

"I need to tell Fanny," he muttered, "How do you tell this sort of this to a four year old? Where will she even go?"

"Go?" Eliza raised her brow, "why should she go anywhere?"

"I don't..." John sighed, "I don't know. I guess I wasn't thinking."

"No you weren't," said Eliza tartly, but there wasn't any malice in her tone and she was rubbing John's back gently.

"We're going to keep Fanny right here with us, this is where she belongs," Eliza added.


	4. Elsa and Fei

Part 4: Elsa and Fei

The usual excitement that came with going on a family vacation was greatly increased. Despite the long flight from DC to Dublin, the kids were much more awake than their three parents.

"This is so exciting,"Angie grinned at Fanny.

"I know," Fanny smiled back as she took a seat in the van beside Angie, the two of them began to whisper conspiratorially.

"Moooom," AJ called out, "Angie and Fanny are plotting to take over the world again."

"Buckle up kids," Eliza called back ignoring AJ's previous comment.

"William's all strapped in," Jamie said, closing the last buckle on his younger brother's car seat. 

"Dinosaur please," the five year old said. 

Jamie handed over the plastic toy he had put in his lap while buckling his brother in before pulling out his book and disappearing into its pages.

"Alright let's go," John climbed into the driver's seat and they left the airport.

"Mama," Angie spoke up, "when are we seeing Uncle Herc?"

"Tomorrow," Eliza told her, "We're meeting him for brunch before we go to the orphanage."

Angie smiled and began chatting with Fanny again as they made their way to the hotel they were staying at.

\----------

Nobody was quite as chipper the next morning, all plagued by the time difference. Except for John, of course, as his time in the military had given him the ability to wake up at any time.

"Come on everyone," John took it upon himself to rouse the children leaving Alex to wake Eliza, "I know you all want to see Uncle Herc."

A chorus of grumbles greeted him and John chuckled. Slowly, their whole brood managed to wake up, although "awake" was probably a strong term and little William was actually still asleep.

"Come on William," John picked up William, "we've gotta get going."

"Tired..." William mumbled snuggling close to John.

John pressed a kiss to the top Williams head and rubbed his cheek gently against his hair. Like Philip, William had inherited John's curly hair and it was extremely soft.

"Angie come on," John went to their eldest daughter who was sitting up but her eyes were half closed.

"I'm trying," Angie muttered.

Angie, on the other hand, was so much like Alex that it was frightening sometimes. This included a dependence on coffee, although Alex had certainly gotten much better.

"Come on, sweetie," John rested his hand on her shoulder, "you can have as much coffee as you want at brunch," he teased.

"John Laurens you'd better not have said what I think you said," Eliza entered the room.

"Of course not," John said seriously, "Angie is way to young to be drinking coffee."

When Eliza turned to help William with his shirt, John winked at Angie and she giggled.

\----------

Hercules had already arrived at the cafe by the time they arrived, he sat at the table with a newspaper and a cup of coffee in hand.

He greeted everyone with his usual enthusiasm and with a wide grin. 

"Sit, sit," he invited, gesturing to the empty seats surrounding him.

The entire family sat themselves around the table, Alex, Eliza and John sitting closest to Hercules.

"Enjoying your visit to the ancestral home land?" John asked. 

"Oh aye, it's been quite lovely," replied Hercules in an over exaggerated Irish accent. He'd lived in the US for too long and from too young of an age to actually have an accent.

"It is very beautiful," Eliza nodded.

"Yeah," Hercules sighed, "I just wish there were better circumstances involved."

"You didn't say all the details over the phone," said Eliza, "What's the situation?"

"Some distant cousin on my mother's side," Hercules told them with a shrug, "I never met them, I never knew them. I just heard through the extended family grapevine that this cousin and his wife died very suddenly. They've left behind two kids, ages three and one."

"That's terrible," John sighed.

"No one else is willing to take them in?" Eliza asked, while they had discussed this and knew they had no problems with taking in these two kids she figured staying with family might be best.

Hercules snorted, "No, because that would be a decent thing to do. There's a reason why I was never in contact with my extended family."

"Those poor kids," Eliza shook her head.

"I know this is a lot to ask," Hercules sighed, "since you've got all your own kids-"

"Herc we wouldn't be here if we weren't at least considering it," John interrupted.

"I think we've proven that we're more than willing to take in as many kids as we can handle," Alex smirked, "And with both Frances and Philip out of the house we've got some holes to fill."

Hercules began to smile, "So you want to meet them after we're done here?"

"Of course," Eliza nodded.

"Great!" Hercules said, "I think you'll love them. The three year old is a girl, Elsabeth. She's a bit shy at first but very excitable once she's comfortable. The one year old is a boy named Feidhlim, but they've been calling him Fei."

"They sound lovely," Eliza smiled.

"And Fei's freckles just might rival Philip's," Hercules laughed.

Hercules continued to tell them about the two kids as they ate their brunch and then everyone piled back into the van so they could follow Hercules to the orphanage.

The orphanage was a distance away from the cafe and the kids started asking questions.

"R’we getting a new brother and sister?" William asked.

"Maybe," Alex replied, "First we have to meet them and see if they like us."

"Of course they'll like us," said Fanny, "What's not to like?"

"Lots of people don't like us," AJ pointed out, "because dad is loud."

"Hey!" Alex protested. 

"It's true," John said, "you can be a bit abrasive at times."

"You're supposed to be on my side," pouted Alex, "Not to mention, aren't children supposed to respect their parents?"

AJ stuck his tongue out. 

"What if we like them but they don't like us?" Jamie wanted to know. 

Alex and Eliza exchanged a glance. That was definitely a situation they hoped to not have to deal with. On the one hand they would never do something that the kids weren't comfortable with, but on the other hand leaving the kids in an orphanage when there was a family wanted to take them in could be potentially more damaging than a slightly rocky start to their home life. 

"I'm sure that won't happen," Eliza said gently, "but if it does, then it's something that dad, papí, and I will have to discuss."

They pulled up in front of the orphanage and piled out of the car, and as they walked inside the kids couldn't help but notice the strange looks the woman at the desk had given them.

Hercules went over to lean against the desk and gave the receptionist a flirtatious smile. 

"How's my best lady today, Bree?" he asked. 

"You say that to all the girls," Bree said in a soft lilting voice, "Can't fool me, Hercules."

"Well darn," Hercules let out a dramatic sigh, "Bree, these are my friends Alex Hamilton, John Laurens, Eliza Schuyler and their family," he introduced the large crowd, "we're here to see Elsie and Fei."

"Quite a brood you've got there," Bree remarked, not unkindly. 

"And two more older ones back home," added Alex proudly.

Bree smiled, "Hercules has talked about you quite a bit, especially your work with orphans," she nodded to Eliza.

Eliza blushed slightly, "It just seemed to be a calling for me, and it helped bring our family together."

"Go on and take them back, Hercules," said Bree, "They should both be in the back room."

"Why don't we have the kids stay here for now," John suggested, "We don't want to overwhelm Elsie and Fei."

"I'll watch them," promised Bree. 

Alex, John, and Eliza followed Hercules through the building. There were a few different common room areas and it seemed that the kids were mostly separated by age group.

"Here we are," Hercules stopped in front of the room where there there were mostly toddlers he opened the door and walked them towards a little girl with dark black hair played with a tower of blocks.

"Hey Elsie, I brought some nice people to meet you," Hercules called gently. 

The girl turned, her blue-gray eyes wide as she looked at the three of them.

She cautiously eyed the three strangers before getting up and walking towards them.

Alex was the first one to crouch down to her level, holding out his hand to her. 

"Hi there," he said, "My name's Alex."

"Hi," Elsie all but whispered, cautiously touching his hand briefly before drawing hers back. 

"This is John and Eliza. We're here to meet you and your brother," Alex continued, "We'd love to give you a home, if that's something you want."

"Really?" Elsie asked, her eyes were wide.

"Mhmm," Alex nodded, "does that sound good to you?"

"Fei too?" 

"Of course," Alex assured her, "We would never want to separate you two for any reason."

A small smile appeared on Elsie's lips and there was no hesitation when she threw her arms around Alex.

Alex chuckled and looked up at Hercules, "I'm not sure there's going to be much of an issue."

"So it would seem," said Hercules with amusement. 

"We brought some of our other kids with us," Eliza said, "Do you maybe want to meet them while Hercules goes to get your brother?"

Elsie paused to think for a moment before nodding her head enthusiastically.

"Alright sweetie," Alex laughed sweeping Elsie in into his arms, "they're very excited to meet you."

"They are?" Elsie asked.

"Of course they are," said Alex, "They love getting new brothers and sisters."

Eliza followed Alex out to the lobby where the other kids were waiting and John followed Hercules further into the building to a small room with a handful of cribs. 

"I think he's napping right now," Hercules said, going to the crib that was closest to the door. 

Fei had the same messy inky black hair as his sister and when the little boy's eyes blinked open John saw that they were bright blue.

"Hi there," John spoke gently.

Fei blinked at John with curiosity.

"You ready to come home with us?" John asked as he picked up the one year old who seemed more distracted by reaching for a loose strand of John's hair.

John laughed when Fei missed his hair and grabbed at his cheek instead. 

"I'm going to take that as a yes," he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My bad, I got overly excited about posting this weeks HFA that I posted it on Wednesday instead of today...-JetGirl1832


	5. Jack

As one of the more senior case workers, Eliza had her own office on the second floor of the orphanage. Most days she liked to take her lunch there and spend the quiet time filling in paperwork and reading over case files.

"I can't believe I need to place him again," Alice muttered walking past Eliza's office with a folder in hand, "this will be his third home in six months-"

Eliza frowned. That didn't sound good. 

"Alice?" she called. 

A few moments later, the other woman appeared in Eliza's doorway again. She was fairly new, both to the orphanage and to social work in general, and it showed. It wasn't that Alice was a bad social worker, she was just a little too emotional in the sense that she took everything too personally. Eliza had found that there was a fine line between empathy and actually feeling like other people's failings were your own fault.

"Yes?" Alice sighed.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" Eliza asked.

"It's this kid," Alice leaned against the wall file folder in hand, "Jack vanden Heuvel, he's ten and hasn't me been able to stay in a home for more than three months at a time."

Eliza offered her coworker a sympathetic smile, this job was far from easy, "Sometimes there is only so much you can do, mind if I see his file?"

Alice nodded and handed Eliza the folder for her to peruse the contents as she sipped at her iced tea. She took note of all the reasons Jack had been bounced around from home to home since he was six. Eliza felt the familiar tug at her heartstrings, "He's coming back here today?"

"Yes," Alice nodded, she then furrowed her brow, "hang on you're not thinking of fostering him, are you?"

"And what if I am?" Eliza replied.

"Didn't you just adopt two toddlers from Ireland?" Alice asked.

"But this one needs me too," Eliza looked back at the file.

"Eliza," Alice sighed, "you've seen his file. Physical and emotional abuse, abandonment, three months in juvie..."

"And so he doesn't deserve a good home?" Eliza interrupted fiercely. 

"You know I don't believe that," insisted Alice.

"I know, I'm sorry," Eliza said, squeezing the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh.

"I'm just saying," Alice said, "isn't that a lot for you to take on?"

And here was another thing that made it obvious that Alice was new. The best way to get Eliza to do something was to tell her that she couldn't do it. 

"I'd like to talk to him," she said stubbornly, "Is he here?"

Alice nodded, "He just arrived."

Eliza took a final glance at Jack's file and closed it, giving the manila folder a light pat before she rose to her feet. 

"There's no way for me to persuade you otherwise?" Alice asked, knowing what the answer would be. 

"Nope," Eliza replied with a grin.

"Okay..." Alice rolled her eyes, "come with me."

Alice led her back to the boys dorm. They were fairly full at the moment so there was quite a bit of noise as a lot of the boys enjoyed socializing together. 

It was easy to see which one of them was Jack, even if Eliza hadn't seen his picture in the file. He was sitting off by himself on a bed in the corner, his knees drawn to his chest and glaring at his feet. 

 

"Jack?" Eliza spoke as she approached him slowly, Jack refused to make eye contact with her.

"Jack," Eliza tried again, "my name is Eliza, and I would like to talk to you."

"Fine," Jack mumbled. 

Eliza smiled at him and gestured for him to go in front of her. Knowing that the past physical abuse would make him jumpy about touch, so she directed him verbally to one of the rooms where they introduced kids to potential foster parents. It was a small, cozy room with comfortable couches and the walls painted a warm yellow.

"What do you want?" Jack frowned flopping down onto one of the couches.

"Well," Eliza began, "I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of coming home with me?"

Jack snorted, "Why would I do that?"

"Because I'd like you to," said Eliza patiently.

"That's how it starts," the boy said sullenly, "First they want me to stay then they decide that I'm too much trouble so they start ignoring me and then before I know it I'm back here in that stupid dorm with all those idiots who still think there's a chance of getting adopted one day."

"It's not going to be like that," Eliza knelt down in front of Jack, "I've been a social worker for a very long time, and I've adopted most of my kids, you deserve another chance and I want to give it to you."

Jack still didn't look convinced and Eliza really felt for him. She didn't understand what it felt like to be in that kind of situation, to feel so unwanted. She wanted to help this boy and she knew that Alex and John would feel the same. 

"Can you just give me a chance? Just come home with me, have dinner with my family, and decide?" Eliza asked, this was very unorthodox to leave a decision like this in the hands of a child, but Eliza did not want to see this boy pass through another home.

"I guess so," Jack conceded, "but I'll probably just be back here tomorrow. That's what always happens."

"I wouldn't be so certain," Eliza smiled, "now I just have a few things I need to finish up here and then we can go home, okay?"

 

\----------

Jack was nervous the whole drive from the orphanage home, although he was obviously trying to hide it. It was also obvious to Eliza, who had learned to read expressions very well, that he was trying to contain some excitement as well. She'd had kids talk to her about that kind of feeling before, the hope that the next home will be Home.

"Here we are," Eliza smiled as they pulled up in front of the cheerfully painted, yellow house, "now I must warn you it might be a little chaotic once we get inside."

"Why's that?" asked Jack, unable to stop the curiosity from showing. 

"Well, Frances is visiting," Eliza told him, "she's our oldest, and Philip is on break from Columbia University this week. So that means all the kids are going to be home. Not to mention, it's kind of impossible for Alex to stay quiet."

"Is he also your kid?"

Eliza chuckled, "No. Alex is one of my partners. Our other partner, John, is more taciturn. A lot like you, actually. I think you'll like him. No, the other kids are Angie, Fanny, AJ, Jamie, William, Elsie, and Fei."

"That's a lot," whispered Jack, shrinking into himself a little bit.

"I know," Eliza replied, "but it'll be okay.

\----------

Eliza thought that the evening had gone very well. Unfortunately, she'd had to bring Jack back to the orphanage for the night because of semantic legal reasons and the calm almost happy disposition he'd acquired over the course of the evening had melted back into the tense shouldered sullen attitude he'd had at the beginning of their time together. It was obvious that he didn't believe he would be seeing the rest of the family ever again despite Eliza's reassurances. 

She returned home and said goodnight to the older kids who were still awake and watching tv before going back to Alex, John, and her bedroom.

Pulling her hair down from the bun at the back of her head she sighed.

"So Jack seems like a nice kid," John mused.

"He's had a tough life," Eliza said, "Tougher than most."

"And tonight?" John raised his brow.

Eliza bit at her lip, both her partners had been surprised when she'd showed up with the ten year old in tow, "I wanted him to experience what a real family was like."

"There's more to this," John smiled as he went to hug Eliza close.

"I think we could be good for him," Eliza said, holding out her hand to Alex so that he could join the hug, "There's some...past emotional abuse. And physical."

John sighed. He knew all too well what it was like to be in an emotionally abusive household. He was lucky that his mother had been able to temper his father before things ever got physical. Of course, Henry Laurens' response to that had been to force John into military service, but that was besides the point.

"That's a good thought Bets," Alex snuggled close, "so what do we need to do to make this happen?"

"We're kind of old hands at this," laughed John, reaching around Eliza to tug on Alex's hair playfully, "I would think that you know the drill by now."

"I do," Eliza smiled, "and I'll fill out the paperwork tomorrow."

"You realize this means we'll have nine kids," Alex said, "Nine!"

"Oh like you really care that much?" Eliza asked.

"Care?" scoffed Alex, "I'm ecstatic."

Eliza giggled as Alex leaned in to kiss her cheek, "I can't wait to have Jack be a part of our family."


End file.
